Churov is something of an expert of the subject of rigged elections. In 2007, upon assuming office as Putin's hand-chosen head of Russia's Central Election Commission (CIK), Churov declared his "first rule" to be "Putin is always right". In 2011, then-president Dmitry Medvedev declared him "a magician" after Putin's United Russia Party was handed an extremely questionable victory in a parliamentary election marred by rampant violence and flagrant vote count manipulation.

"As state television network Rossiya-24 broadcast preliminary results of those same parliamentary elections in December 2011, it cited Central Election Commission figures as saying that turnout in the southern Rostov region had hit 146.47 percent. As ridicule mounted, the commission blamed the strange figures on the state TV journalists who, it said, had got their numbers wrong.

"This, however, did little to subdue to the general mood of anger. The 146 percent result spawned a pervasive Internet meme, often targeting Churov, who claimed the tally was a 'provocation' organized 'from abroad' and carried out by a person 'who later received a very nice place overseas.'

So Churov has extensive experience rigging elections and blaming the CIA. Now he's finding that experience very valuable in the post-truth world of the Trump-Putin alliance.